JAZVAC SUSPECT ENTERS PLEA IN 2 CASES

Michael Thomas Rivera, the man authorities call their prime suspect in the killing of 11-year-old Staci Jazvak, pleaded innocent Friday to a variety of charges stemming from two previous cases, including attempted murder, kidnapping and grand theft.

Broward Circuit Judge Barry Stone entered the pleas of innocent after Rivera remained silent during a hearing in the cases.

During the same session, Rivera's lawyers withdrew from the case, saying they could no longer represent him because of "irreconcilable conflicts of interest."

"Our basis for withdrawing has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the case," said one of the attorneys, Richard Garfield. He and co-counsel Peter Giacoma Jr. would not comment on what the conflicts were.

Rivera, 23, of North Lauderdale, was left temporarily without a lawyer when the Broward Public Defender's Office also withdrew because of a possible conflict of interest. Stone said he will appoint a special public defender.

Assistant Public Defender John Voigt is representing a client who might be called as a witness in the Jazvac murder case.

Investigators initially questioned his client as a possible suspect, but ruled him out when they learned he had been in jail at the time of the crime, Voigt said.

"They decided to take a statement from him anyway because he had known Rivera in the past," Voigt said. The two went to Boyd-Anderson High School in Lauderdale Lakes together, he said.

Rivera, handcuffed and in a jail uniform, shielded his face from photographers with an envelope during the short proceeding.

A convicted sex offender, Rivera was charged with the near-strangulation of a Coral Springs girl, also 11, last year. The charges brought against him were kidnapping, attempted murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated battery.

He also faces charges of grand theft, burglary and dealing in stolen property in connection with the theft of silver coins from a Lauderdale Lakes home on Jan. 28.

Sheriff Nick Navarro said Friday that he expects the case against Rivera in the Jazvac murder to be presented to a grand jury "within the next several weeks."

"I am very confident he is the one," Navarro said. "We're just following up on some of the technical aspects. There's a ton of paperwork," he said.

He said the Sheriff's Office would have charged Rivera by now if he hadn't been charged in the attempted murder case.

"He's in jail, charged with a serious crime. We know he's not going anywhere," Navarro said.

Staci was last seen the night of Jan. 30 when she rode her bike to a drugstore in her Lauderdale Lakes neighborhood. Her body was found Feb. 14 in a Coral Springs field. Court documents show she died of asphyxiation.

This week, laboratory analysts dusted a bathroom wall at the county courthouse for fingerprints after a note claiming responsibility for Staci's murder was found scrawled on the wall.

The note said in part, "I am not innocent. I raped and killed Staci." Sheriff's officials have ruled out any link to the crime.